Octopus’s Garden

For decades I have been proclaiming the advantages of our oceans. Not just exploring our oceans, but taking advantages of the limitless resources.

To my way of thinking, the oceans have everything we need. I don’t understand why we are not gathering them up. With the technology we have right this second, we could be gathering all the food we could ever want. It wouldn’t take much effort to even turn the salt water into agricultural and drinking water. Yes, it might cost a few bucks to get it right, but the process would get cheaper and cheaper with each gallon.

I’ll bet we even have barges and such that could start mining the tons of minerals just waiting for us. Again, the more we dig up the cheaper those tons become.

Yes, we were excited when man landed on the moon, but all those gaxillions of dollars spent since then have been wasted to my mind. Okay, we got Teflon and cell phones as a result of the space program(s), but have we received back anywhere near a DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR value? I think not.

I mean, the world is two-thirds water, folks!

To top it off for the United States, Robert Ballard told 60 Minutes on May 10, “half of their country lies beneath the sea and is unexplored.” Fifty percent! Unexplored!

CBS’s Lara Logan: Bob Ballard’s “unknown America” stretches out to 200 nautical miles from all our coasts. This vast undersea area is called the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and the United States has sovereign rights over all the natural resources that lie there, like this methane gas Ballard filmed bubbling up from the seafloor off the coast of Louisiana. The zone was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and few realized that it more than doubled the area within America’s boundaries.

Robert Ballard: That’s what we’re doing. Reagan may have signed a sheet of paper, but he did not follow it up with a modern-day version of a Lewis and Clark expedition to actually find out what we own.

Lara Logan: With technology not fathomable during President Reagan’s time, Ballard is exploring and mapping as much of these waters as he can aboard the Nautilus, this 200-foot state-of-the-art ship of exploration.

Robert Ballard: I mean, you can’t manage something until you know what you’ve got. So, before you can exploit, you explore. And so that’s what we are doing right now. We’re trying to get a fundamental understanding of what we own.

The entire interview has fantastic video of our “unknown America,” and I can’t recommend it too highly. It’s only 13 minutes long, and is fascinating for all – American or world citizen. WATCH HERE

I’d like to be under the sea
In an octopus’ garden in the shade
He’d let us in, knows where we’ve been
In his octopus’ garden in the shade
I’d ask my friends to come and see
An octopus’ garden with me
I’d like to be under the sea
In an octopus’ garden in the shade.
We would be warm below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves
Resting our head on the sea bed
In an octopus’ garden near a cave
We would sing and dance around
Because we know we can’t be found
I’d like to be under the sea
In an octopus’ garden in the shade
We would shout and swim about
The coral that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they’re happy and they’re safe
(Happy and they’re safe)
We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I’d like to be under the sea
In an octopus’ garden with you.